The weather in Konoha today—like almost always—was nice as hell. Warm sun, pleasant to stand under. With a light breeze in my face, I could hear the quiet rustle of leaves as I walked up to the Academy.
It's only been a few months since my class graduated, but that old red building already hits me with a warm little wave of nostalgia. Man… how many times did I fight in there? How much random bullshit did I have to listen to in class?
The exam invitation—turned out it was the same day, just earlier—got handed to my teammates too. It had the date and time I was supposed to show up. So I dragged my ass over. Room 301.
I hadn't even gone a few hundred meters toward my destination when it hit me like lightning.
Sphere Sight showed… a red-haired girl, and the past flooded my head—my parents skewered on a huge claw, Mom forcing a smile through the pain, blood running down her chin… and the helplessness of my weak, infant body.
I shook my head.
For fuck's sake… even now the old nightmares chase me. Whatever. The past should stay the past.
Once I got my head together, I kept walking.
My teammates were waiting for me at the Academy entrance. The exam itself was starting in fifteen minutes.
We said our hellos, and Sakura asked:
"Naruto, are you okay?"
Sasuke threw us an annoyed look because we were holding him up.
"Yeah. Mostly. Just, uh…"
Just in case—so I'd be one hundred percent sure—I made a sliver of my chakra sensory for a moment, to get a better feel for one girl's chakra.
"I found a relative."
"Uzumaki?" Sakura blinked, surprised. Besides me, nobody here knew anyone with that last name.
"Yeah. Her chakra's almost the same as mine was. Well, until recently. Wanna go check it out?"
She nodded. Sasuke, still frowning at all of it, just turned toward the entrance, and we went inside.
The exam was in Room 301, and going by the first number, you had to get up to the third floor. Only the stairwells in this building are weird as hell—you can't just go straight up. To reach the third floor, you have to walk a long stretch of the second-floor corridor first.
And when we were climbing the stairs to the second floor, Sphere Sight showed me another scene that made me roll my eyes.
"Naruto, are you sure you're fine?" Sakura asked calmly, stopping our little procession. Sasuke, walking in front, stopped too and turned back even more pissed, drilling holes in us with his glare.
"Yeah. Different reason this time," I said. "On the second floor, two chunin apparently ran away from a circus and decided to put on a show where they shouldn't. They used Henge to look like teen genin and put genjutsu on the sign for Room 201 so it looks like 301. Now they're blocking the way for this fooled crowd. They're messing with everyone, and… oh, one of the disguised assholes just punched a genin from the crowd." I explained it like I was commentating on something happening right in front of me. "Let's go. It's on our way."
"Oh… okay," Sakura agreed, a little interested.
Once we finally moved, Sasuke snorted and walked forward all proud. Though, judging by the tiny flicker on his face, he was curious too.
When we rounded the corner, the exact scene I described was there.
"And you think you're gonna take the exam?" one of the two blocking the classroom asked with his eyes closed, a light contempt in his voice.
He looked like a guy with a big spiky mop of hair, three bandages on his face, and the handles of some weird weapons with rings on the ends sticking out behind his back.
"Maybe you shouldn't even try," the second backed him up. This one wore a Leaf forehead protector and a tight piece of gear around his neck and part of his jawline.
"Yeah, of course you shouldn't try. Bunch of green-ass little brats," the first continued.
Looks like nobody in the crowd knew those two were under Henge. The Transformation was pretty solid, so no wonder the genin didn't suspect anything.
On the floor in front of them was a boy with a bowl cut in a green jumpsuit I knew way too well. Supporting him was a girl with two hair buns and a pink Chinese-style vest; the rest was standard kunoichi gear. The first was Rock Lee, the second was Tenten—Guy's students. We'd met in passing.
After that last line, the girl supporting the guy on the floor stood up.
"I'm begging you, please let us through," she tried to enter the classroom, but immediately caught a fist to the face—same as her teammate earlier.
"Ha. Now that's real equality," I said with a slight smirk, giving everyone a reason to look at us. "No, I mean, I get it—them." I nodded at the crowd; I didn't recognize anyone else there except one guy from the Hyuga clan. "But you two—why the hell are you putting on this masquerade?"
The guy in the green jumpsuit got up like he hadn't been punched at all.
"Uzumaki-san, glad to see you," he bowed from the waist. I nodded back, then nodded to the girl and the Hyuga too. When he straightened, his eyes locked onto Sakura. He took a step toward her, cheeks turning red. "My name is Rock Lee! I don't know your name, girl-san, but please, go out with me. I will protect you until the day I die!"
After that speech he flashed a sparkling smile, stuck one finger up, and hit that "good guy" pose his sensei does sometimes.
I lifted an eyebrow. Bold.
Sasuke looked surprised too.
Sakura froze for a second, then stared at him with disgust.
"Fuck off, you disgusting creep," she said with a grimace, stepping behind my back.
Fair. The kid's face really wasn't doing him any favors, and that proposal was… yeah. And that's not even counting the main thing…
"Don't be mad, Rock-san. But Sakura's mine." I put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her in for a second; she flushed a little.
It's not like we were officially dating. I thought it was too early for that. But we were close.
Lee understood it his own way. His smile cracked instantly. His eyes went dull for a second.
"I see… That's fair, and it's the right thing. With your looks, you suit each other well. And… I know you, Uzumaki-san—you're a good person. You'll take good care of her."
"Absolutely," I said. "And yeah, I'd advise you not to throw lines like that around. People might start talking about you, Rock-san."
"Huh?" He didn't get it.
But that—and my earlier question about the masquerade—got cut off.
Hyuga Neji stepped toward us. Long dark-brown hair down to mid-back. Brown shorts, a white vest, and his right arm and leg wrapped in bandages. Hinata's cousin.
"Hey you, introduce yourself," he said, looking at Sasuke.
"Before asking someone's name, you should give yours first," the Uchiha replied. He'd only been watching up until now, but irritation was creeping into his voice.
He really wasn't happy we were wasting time on dumb crap.
"How rude," I commented.
"What are you doing?" Tenten walked up to us. There wasn't a mark on her face, which meant she could reinforce her body with chakra at least a little. "We agreed not to draw attention, to act weak. You suggested it yourself, Lee. What the hell happened?"
She asked him. Lee was slouching a bit, staring at me and Sakura with huge sadness. His face looked like it had darkened, broadcasting the inner pain of its owner.
Understandable.
Because a moment ago—since the chance showed up—I wanted to touch some soft, nice-to-the-touch pink hair. So with my hands buried in it, I was massaging my student's head. And judging by her relaxed, pleased look, she was enjoying it a lot.
Noticing Sakura, the Hyuga glanced my way, then shifted his gaze back to the Uchiha.
"This is your first exam, right? How old are you?" the pale-eyed one kept going.
"I'm not obligated to answer your questions," Sasuke said, after flicking a glance at Tenten. He was getting seriously pissed. He came here for an exam, and everyone around him was in the way. If it kept going, it was gonna turn into a fight.
I didn't really care.
"Well, have fun with… all that. We're going," I told them, swept the group with my eyes, and led Sakura to the stairs.
On the third floor we quickly found Room 301. I slid the door open, and we walked into a classroom packed with genin. In a pretty large room, more than a hundred people turned to look at us.
"What's with them?" Sakura asked beside me.
"How would I know? Maybe genin here have a hobby of staring at people," I shrugged, looking for familiar faces.
"Sakura, Naruto, you're here too!" a girl shouted our names and hurried over. Blonde hair tied in a ponytail, bangs covering the right side of her face and one green eye. White arm warmers, a purple top and skirt, and bandages visible on her stomach and legs. That was my sort-of former classmate and Sakura's sort-of friend. She spun her head around and asked, "Where's Sasuke-kun? He did come, right?"
"Good to see you, Ino," I said. "Yeah, he came. He's just…" I paid a little attention to Sphere Sight. "Fighting some guy in the hallway, heh."
"Huh?" she stared at me, not getting it.
"Don't worry about it. He'll be here," I waved it off.
"What? How does that even—?" Even more confused and worried, she turned to her supposed rival. "Sakura, I get Naruto, but how could you leave Sasuke-kun alone?"
Sakura looked her over, then said something straight-up philosophical:
"We didn't talk about it. But I abandoned empty dreams and found a path I can see clearly. I won't follow blind feelings—and I advise you to do the same, old friend. Feelings are fog. Reason is a blade. Only by mastering it can you tame the storm inside and live with dignity, instead of wandering through suffering for no reason."
"…"
I stayed quiet.
That was some samurai quote, wasn't it?
Listening to her, Ino got even more confused. Before, she'd thought Sakura cut her hair because of how intense the mission was—since that was the explanation she'd gotten, even without details. But apparently they didn't talk much otherwise, and my teammate never laid out the full picture. And now it was getting clearer—that mission was tied to Sasuke in a big way, if Sakura was saying shit like this.
"You guys really came to this dumb exam too?" my other former classmate walked up with his hands in his pockets, asking a rhetorical question. Shikamaru Nara—pineapple hair—looked like he was suffering just from being here, same as always. Choji came with him too, still the same fat-looking guy with long messy brown hair sticking out around the cutouts of his headband/underwear thing with Konoha's protector on it. He was tearing through a bag of chips at a pretty good pace.
"Oh, found you!" Kiba bellowed, walking up with his teammates.
"Good afternoon," Hinata greeted politely as she came over too. Shino nodded hello.
"Yeah, hey," I smiled and nodded to the newcomers. "Three teams together. Not bad."
We didn't even get to talk properly before some lunatic came up with an obviously forced accusation.
"Hey, you! Why the hell are you making so much noise?" a white-haired guy in glasses walked up. "Turning this place into a marketplace…"
He kept bitching, then shut up when he met my eyes.
"Shut it, Kabuto. We're having a happy reunion with old acquaintances."
"Um… Uzumaki-san," he adjusted his glasses.
This guy, like me, worked at the hospital. We barely knew each other. Also, I knew him from meta-knowledge, but that's not the point.
"That was pretty rude, don't you think?"
"So was your comment," I said flatly.
"…"
He looked at me with mild annoyance.
"But whatever. It was good seeing everyone. We'll see each other again, but right now I need to step away," I told the group—then grabbed Kabuto by the shoulders (his eyes went wide) and placed him right in front of them.
"Hey, what are you doing?" he protested.
"This guy's failed the chunin exam six times. You can ask him why he's such a dumbass."
And I just turned around.
"Actually, the exam is really difficult…"
"So difficult you failed it six times?" Shikamaru asked.
By that point I was moving deeper into the room. That girl was still stuck in my head.
Still, I could hear and see everything going on with my old classmates just fine.
"Yeah," Kabuto nodded easily and reached into his pouch, pulling out a deck of cards. "And over that time I prepared pretty well. These are Ninja Cards—I collected a lot of information. Interested?" he asked quietly, in a conspiratorial tone.
Right then the classroom door opened again, and a battered Sasuke and Lee walked in, with the rest of Guy's team behind them.
"Sasuke-kun! What happened to you?!" Ino asked loudly, rushing up to him.
"Get lost," he brushed her off. At the same time, all my classmates completely forgot Kabuto existed and focused on Sasuke.
"Better not ask. That team… their leader…" Sasuke stared at the floor with wide eyes, unable to find words. Not surprising—he ran into the Noble Beast, the one who broke up the fight. And Sasuke fought Lee, not Neji. "Freaks," he finally said, picking the most polite word he could manage.
Kabuto looked at them weirdly and, just in case, adjusted his glasses again. Only now did he start showing the cards.
Guy's team wasn't interested, so he only showed them to my former classmates.
He could store information in the cards, but normally you couldn't see it. If he fed the cards his chakra specifically, the card would fill with text and images. First he showed a card listing, in columns, the number of exam participants from each village.
One hundred and fifty-three genin total, according to the card. Then Kabuto moved on to who was who, giving a rundown of each village.
Meanwhile, Uzumaki Naruto
Moving through the crowd at an unhurried pace, I walked up to three genin from the Hidden Grass.
Among them stood a girl, maybe thirteen, with short red hair and red eyes. A Grass forehead protector on her brow, glasses, and swamp-colored clothes—for better camouflage in forest terrain. She stood a short distance away from the two guys, frowning. Her posture, her expression, her chakra—everything screamed sadness, even doom. But it also looked like she'd almost accepted whatever was causing it.
"You're an Uzumaki too," I said as I came up. The girl lifted surprised eyes to me. "My name's Naruto…"
I started introducing myself, but a genin in a black bandanna, with a sword hilt sticking out behind his back, moved toward me and cut me off.
"Step away from her!"
He tried to shove me, but the instant he met my eyes, he froze.
"S-sorry," he stammered—partly for everyone watching, but really because of my genjutsu—and backed off.
"Shigeri, what the hell's wrong with you?" the second one stepped up, wearing a big light scarf, but after he met my eyes too, he swallowed loudly and retreated to his friend.
"They won't interfere."
I said it not just to the girl, but to the other Grass genin gathered around. There were fifteen of them total. Seeing what happened to their two buddies, they decided not to get involved.
So I wouldn't scare the kunoichi even more, I chose not to pull a dead-eyed face—let alone an angry one. I let out a light breath and spoke in a softer tone:
"Once, I was an Uzumaki by blood. Now the lineage of the Red-Haired Devils is just a blurred part of me. But our blood is similar… and you remind me of someone. I don't know what kind of life you had before this. But you're the only relative I've met in this life… so I'm offering you a move here, to the Leaf. Maybe even to my place."
Just said it, straight up. I was drawn to her—like to a lost relative, like to someone who reminded me of Kushina, and also… like to an underrated anime character I used to like, except now she was standing in front of me alive and real.
"I-I don't understand," the girl finally spoke. "You're an Uzumaki too?"
"Not pureblood, as you can see," I nodded at my hair color—though I meant something deeper than that. "And I'm offering you shelter."
A serious thought process showed on the redhead's face. Around us, the Grass genin started exchanging looks like I was inviting their kunoichi into a cult. Still, nobody dared to mess with me.
And before she answered, I continued:
"Konoha shinobi wear the Uzumaki village crest—Uzushio—on the backs of our flak vests. Our villages had a deep alliance while Uzushio existed. And the Leaf won't abandon an ally. You included."
At that moment one of the remaining Grass genin got brave enough to take a step toward us. One look from me, and he immediately changed his mind.
"I'm not forcing you. I'm giving you a choice. Here in Konoha, my authority isn't up for debate. I can make the relocation happen even if the entire Hidden Grass is against it."
"That's…" She didn't know what to do, which was fair—I walked up and dumped a whole information bomb on her. "I-I don't know… I probably can't…"
I tilted my head a little, confused. My face stayed relaxed, no threat on it.
Then I straightened and turned to the guy with the sword.
"You. Tell me. Does your village keep Uzumaki held down?"
"Her mother," he started answering honestly under my suggestion, nodding toward the girl. "And she too has special chakra that can heal. You just have to bite… Her mother pays for being allowed to live in Grass by healing people. Karin became a genin, and now she'll have to heal us here if it's needed."
The Grass genin started glancing around nervously. Shigeri had clearly said too much. Not his fault.
The girl visibly shrank at his words. She obviously didn't like the fate of being a walking medicine cabinet.
"I see…" I said without emotion, then turned to her. "Karin, nice to meet you. My offer changes: I'm offering sanctuary not just to you, but to your mother too—and every Uzumaki you know. And I promise that… here they'll live with dignity, without violence and without being forced."
She froze, torn. I could see she understood my offer now, and thinking it through, she wanted to believe it—but she doubted, because she didn't have real proof I could actually keep my word. And she wasn't fully convinced about why I was helping either… smart, suspicious girl. With the eyes of her—now I get it—"teammates" in quotes on her, it was hard. But she didn't shut her brain off. She was still actively thinking something like: What the hell is even happening?!
That hesitation was fixable.
I had a fast way, but it wasn't perfect and would scare her a bit. Sadly, it would work—and in the end it would bring the least negativity.
"Your chakra—I can feel it—doesn't just heal. Your real talent is sensitivity. Use it on me." After I said that, I spread my arms in an open gesture.
That should settle whether I could back up my words.
Her heart was pounding.
Yeah… like a scared cat.
But to my satisfaction, she listened. Closing her eyes, she sent a thin wave of chakra over me.
And immediately recoiled. Her face twisted in shock—and then fear.
Karin felt a bottomless, flowing ocean of energy inside me. Chakra bigger than every genin in this room put together. But that wasn't what scared her.
Deep inside, at the very center of that ocean, she found something else. Something ancient, dark, stuffed with concentrated hatred. A terrifying, monstrous presence curled up in my stomach.
Real, animal fear hit her face.
"You don't have anything to be afraid of," I said, trying to calm her down. "The creature inside me is a bijuu, and it won't break free. No matter how hard it tries. Because in the end, I'm stronger."
After that, I held my hand out to her.
Breathing deep, Karin stared at it.
She looked at my outstretched hand, then at her own scared reflection in my calm eyes, then back at my hand. She thought about her mother, about the scars waiting for her, about despair and dead ends. Then she looked at me—another Uzumaki—whose presence seemed to rise right in front of her eyes. A guy carrying a terrifyingly ancient, all-powerful monster, standing there not broken, but confident—and strong enough to lock that thing inside himself.
"I'm sure it'll be better for you and your mother here."
The Grass genin started exchanging looks even harder. They didn't like where this was going.
"You promise… they won't use my mom?"
Her eyes didn't leave mine, and her chakra uncertainly wrapped around me.
I smiled. Her natural sensor talent was the strongest I'd met. With that kind of sensitivity, she could probably even catch the Third's lies—but not mine. Of course, she didn't know that. And she didn't know I wasn't going to lie.
"I promise."
The girl's chakra flared with a whole fan of emotions, and her palm reached for mine on its own.
Something inside her snapped loose.
The moment our hands met—and I smiled at Karin even more encouragingly, like she'd just jumped into an ice hole—several Grass genin, finally unable to take it, lunged our way.
But a sudden, loud crack of shattered ceramic somewhere off to the side stopped them cold.
_____
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